Stories of Hope: Cara

Cara is 32 and has been trying to get pregnant for two years. In that time, she has had two miscarriages, both of them specifically heartbreaking. Tests showed that her eggs were in fine shape along with her husband, Dave’s, semen. Doctors gave her a diagnosis of “unexplained infertility.” As you can imagine, this was heartbreaking for Cara and Dave. They decided to meet with one of our infertility specialists to learn more.

The first thing our specialist did was listen to Cara and Dave. She wanted to make sure they felt entirely comfortable with her and that they could ask her absolutely anything. Next, we decided to run some basic tests.

Cara was getting a lot of advice from friends, family, doctors, and online websites about what she should do. She knew that IVF worked and thought that that had to be the next best thing for them. However, there are many other fertility treatments out there, and what worked for one person may not work for another. That’s why it’s important for specialists to really listen to the couple, find out what they want, and do tests that give real solutions. When our specialist talked to Cara, she understood that Cara was very afraid of doing IVF, and thought it was the only way to get a baby. Our specialist assured her that isn’t the case and said they would try other things before going to IVF.

Our specialist began with a hormone assay on Cara which included meant she had to get her blood drawn every other day for the most accurate readings. With that information, we assessed that her progesterone levels were low, which is often linked to infertility and miscarriage. From there, we put her on hormone injections. It wasn’t always easy for Cara to give herself these shots, but she did it like a champ. We also made sure she was consuming a healthy diet with plenty of supplemental vitamins. Just four months later, Cara and Davide conceived, and today, they are the parents to a healthy baby girl.

Cara’s a good example that each couple is different so each treatment should be different.